Last week we talked about the kind of infodump in which the character’s full history is dropped in one big block. Often this information—or pieces of it, anyway—does belong in the story. It just needs to be winnowed down to the minimum, and it needs to be woven organically into …
Your character needs backstory, but don’t dump it
I want to take some extra time to go into one point on the Elements of Fiction Editing Checklist in detail: ☐ Personal histories are brought into the story organically Backstory is usually a bad word among writers. But the truth is, it’s necessary—to you. Knowing your character’s history is good. …
Character development: continuity and story arcs
We’ve been looking at the points in the Character element of the checklist. Here are a couple more: ☐ Continuity is maintained in characters’ appearance, habits, and vocabulary. This is where your style sheet will come in handy. Some call it a character bible, but copyeditors usually call it a …
Finer points of character development
Last time we looked at the importance of great characters in fiction. Now, let’s break down the points in the Character segment of the Elements of Fiction Editing Checklist. ☐ Principal characters are well-rounded and realistic. The goal here is to avoid one-note characters. Remember that people have multiple interests. …
Why Character is the most important fiction element
The editing checklist I presented last time is written in order of importance according to me. Other editors will disagree about what is the most important aspect of a novel. I put Character at the top of the list because the characters, especially the viewpoint characters, are how the reader …
Before editing, develop a plan
Many writers get to the end of a rough draft and then start revising without a clear plan. We’re taught how to write, but often we’re not taught how to edit. Professional editors know that editing requires a clear plan. Working without one can lead to months, if not years, …
Read your rough draft before you edit
Now that you’ve taken some time off from your manuscript, you can approach it as a reader would. Read through your novel as quickly as possible to get a feel for the story. Do this in whatever way is comfortable for you. At your local office supply and copy center, …
Your hard drive will crash
One weekend while I was at a conference, Dropbox had a major service outage. This wasn’t a huge problem for me, just an inconvenience. For others, not so much. Dropbox is an online storage service, and a lot of writers use it as their main backup. A glitch in a maintenance …
How to prevent continuity errors in your book
Continuity errors drive us batty, especially when they’re our own. They’re most noticeable in films, for example when a character is wearing a hat in one shot but not in another shot during the same scene. But such errors happen in books, too, and must be rooted out during editing. …
Writers need professional e-mail addresses
When you’re just starting out, it doesn’t matter what your e-mail address looks like. But when you reach the point of submitting to publishers or even self-publishing, you need a professional e-mail address. Make that especially if you’re self-publishing. The self-published author is a businessperson, and needs a businesslike address. …